Dear Editor: Chalmers Johnson’s trilogy starting with “Blowback,” then “Sorrows of Empire” and finally “Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic,” all deal with American overreach and its unintended consequences. Here we are again having to bail out Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki after his incompetence has pretty much killed any chance of his nation remaining as one state. The Sunni population has had enough of his favoritism toward the Shiite majority and the Kurds see the time is ripe to finalize the setting of borders for the Kurdish territory.

The rag tag group ISIS, or ISIL, or whatever you care to call them, has been the vanguard in advancing these grievances. Who is in our corner? Guess who’s coming to dinner? Iran, that’s who. Now we have a common cause in preventing a radicalized rump state headed by extremist crazies from taking hold. Anyone confused yet? For a free education, grab one of those books at your local library.

Mike Caggiano,

San Mateo

Medical care in Israel

Dear Editor: I would like to add something to Ron Kramer’s June 18 letter about the wife of the Palestinian president receiving medical treatment at a private Israeli hospital. The Israeli government is also treating hundreds of Syrian victims of the ethnic conflict to the north. Israel has often been accused of stopping and searching ambulances carrying Palestinians. It’s true, because often these ambulances are armed with explosives.

Recently, I spoke with an Israeli reservist whose job was to search vehicles coming from Gaza. She told me that while searching an ambulance with a pregnant woman inside, she found a bomb under the seat. She was convinced that the woman was innocent but that others were willing to kill her along with any Israelis near the ambulance. Some may call it collective punishment to search ambulances, but in this case it not only saved the lives of Israelis but also of the Palestinian woman and her unborn child.

In closed door talks, Sen. Dianne Feinstein agreed to a major new water policy for California that sells out the Delta and guts Endangered Species Act protections. Sen. Barbara Boxer is fighting the good fight to remove the rider from her comprehensive water infrastructure bill, but it may take a presidential veto.